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TexasSB 57189th Legislature Regular SessionSenate

Relating to the reporting and investigation of certain misconduct and child abuse and neglect; creating a criminal offense.

Sponsored By: Paul Bettencourt (Republican), Brad Buckley, Brandon Creighton (Republican), Pete Flores (Republican), James Frank, Jeff Leach, Mayes Middleton (Republican), Candy Noble, Tan Parker (Republican), Angela Paxton (Republican), Royce West (Democratic), Judith Zaffirini (Democratic)

Signed by Governor

Education--Primary & Secondary--GeneralEducation--Primary & Secondary--Other School PersonnelEducation--Primary & Secondary--TeachersElectronic Information SystemsFamily--Child ProtectionLabor--GeneralMinors--Health & SafetyOccupational Regulation--Other Trades & ProfessionsState Agencies, Boards & CommissionsCHILD ABUSESEXUAL MISCONDUCTADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS, STATE OFFICE OFEDUCATION AGENCY, TEXASEDUCATION, COMMISSIONER OFEDUCATOR CERTIFICATION, STATE BOARD FOR

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

16 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 6 costs, 8 mixed.

Criminal Records Bar Some School Workers

Texas educational entities must reject or discharge workers with covered criminal records, including specified sexual offenses and felonies involving school property. Hiring and educator certificate bans cover convictions or deferred adjudication for one listed offense group; the separate Title 5 felony group requires convictions. Entities must also block covered contractor workers with disqualifying records and ensure service contractors obtain required criminal-history checks. The certification board must revoke certificates within five days after notice of covered convictions or deferred adjudication; employing districts and charters must immediately remove those workers from campus or administrative offices. For Chapter 21 probationary, continuing, or term contracts, governing-body or designee approval allows unpaid suspension, contract voiding, and termination as soon as practicable.

More Grounds to Fire School Workers

Districts and open-enrollment charters may act on felony convictions or deferred adjudication outside the law’s mandatory employment-action rules. This applies to employees with Chapter 21 probationary, continuing, or term contracts. With governing-body or designee approval, schools may suspend them without pay, void their contracts, and terminate employment as soon as practicable. Educational entities and private schools may also fire employees for undisclosed felony convictions or misdemeanor convictions involving moral turpitude. The law treats those nondisclosure firings as misconduct, which may affect unemployment benefits.

Registry listings bar school work and services

Covered education entities must fire or refuse to hire listed people and must end or refuse their services. The ban includes temporary listings and covered certificate suspensions; it ends when listing expires and any required credential reinstatement occurs. Private schools, approved tutoring groups, contracted campus operators, and authorized service providers gain equivalent registry access. During specified misconduct investigations, the certification board cannot accept a credential surrender unless the person agrees to registry listing. Educators who ignore hiring or dismissal duties despite criminal-history information they knew or should have known face board sanctions.

School applicants face disclosures and protections

School job and service applicants must consent to release of employment records and submit a sworn history statement. It must cover listed investigations, criminal cases, licensing actions, registry listings, school work, and firings or resignations instead of firing. Applicants must explain positive answers, including whether allegations were found true or false. Schools cannot reject someone solely for a disclosed allegation they determine was false. Missing required information is a Class B misdemeanor and requires rejection or dismissal; administrators who knowingly ignore omissions risk certificate revocation.

School workers face emergency bans with hearings

A continuing and imminent threat finding requires temporary registry placement or educator credential suspension, depending on the agency's authority. Credential findings require a majority vote by the certification board or its designated five-member committee. Action without advance notice or a hearing requires simultaneous hearing proceedings, with preliminary hearings within 17 days and final hearings within 61 days. After identity verification, arrests for listed offenses also require temporary registry placement or credential suspension until the criminal matter's final disposition. For arrest-based actions, final hearings on registry placement or credential revocation are due within 61 days after that disposition.

Parents get school misconduct notices

Schools must adopt a policy to notify parents about specified misconduct allegations involving their child and an employee or service provider. Schools must share the allegation information as soon as feasible after learning the misconduct may have occurred. Notices must explain whether the person was fired after an investigation or resigned before it ended. They must also say whether the school reported the case to state education officials.

School leaders face reporting deadlines and penalties

Beginning with the 2025–2026 school year, reporting rules cover educators, noncertified staff, student-facing service providers, and covered charter programs. Principals and school leaders face 48-hour deadlines for specified misconduct evidence; other educator-reporting triggers allow seven business days. Required state reports must be written, and school leaders must finish covered investigations even after a person leaves. Late educator notices or reports can bring $500 to $10,000 penalties, with certificate renewal blocked until payment. Intentionally missing a deadline to hide covered educator records or allegations is a state jail felony. The educator and noncertified-worker reporting sections apply only to offenses committed on or after September 1, 2025.

School misconduct cases get hearings and notices

A secure state portal accepts confidential reports and separates registry listings from notices that people are under investigation. When feasible, officials must decide within 30 days whether to post an allegation or investigation notice. Covered people, including some noncertified private-school workers and applicants, have hearing rights and must respond and request a hearing within 10 days. No response requires an investigation notice; without a hearing request, the commissioner decides whether misconduct occurred. Findings of specified misconduct require registry placement; a hearing finding no such misconduct requires immediate removal of the portal's investigation notice.

Public Misconduct Notices With Educator Safeguards

The certification board must post a public notice when it finds an allegation presents a risk to a student’s or minor’s health, safety, or welfare. It must notify the educator and the education agency, which immediately lists the educator as under investigation. Educators have an opportunity to respond and explain why the notice should not remain. If an educator is found not to have committed the misconduct, the notice and registry listing must be removed immediately.

More convictions trigger educator oversight rules

The law expands the convictions covered by educator-related rules, including specified convictions and deferred adjudications. Added categories include listed sex-offender-registration crimes, improper educator-student relationships, harmful material offenses, obscenity-related felonies, and felonies involving school property. It also covers every felony in the Penal Code's offenses-against-the-person title, regardless of the victim's age. Equivalent crimes under another state's law or federal law are also covered.

School Leaders Face Felonies for Concealment

Superintendents and directors commit a state jail felony by missing required report deadlines to hide covered criminal records or misconduct allegations. Principals commit the same offense by missing required notice deadlines to hide covered misconduct allegations. The person must have the reporting or notice duty and intend to conceal the information; a late report alone is not enough.

Schools face stronger state compliance enforcement

The education agency must periodically check covered records and review whether schools use proper misconduct investigation steps and agency coordination. It can monitor compliance despite general limits on state monitoring of school programs. Failures to follow proper steps, provide requested evidence, or submit timely reports can trigger special investigations. Breaking covered hiring, dismissal, or service-provider duties is a material charter violation. Districts of innovation can also lose that designation for failing to follow applicable duties.

Abuse reports reach agencies and schools faster

Police and child-protection agencies must immediately share specified abuse or neglect reports through required referrals and notices. Child-protection officials must refer cases involving someone not responsible for the child to police, who decide whether to investigate. When an investigation involves a school employee, child-protection officials must notify the school in writing, even if the child attends elsewhere. They may send notice to an official's public work email. Reporter identities generally remain confidential, but education agencies can obtain them for specified investigations, reporting-compliance checks, and reviews.

Broader abuse rules require faster professional reports

School misconduct rules define abuse to include any sexual conduct involving a student or minor, not just conduct by educators. Child-abuse law also expressly includes the crime of an improper educator-student relationship. Covered professionals must report suspected abuse or neglect within 24 hours of first having reasonable cause, down from 48 hours. For the listed indecency-with-a-child offense, they must also have reasonable cause to believe the child was abused. Professionals who directly work with children cannot delegate the report or rely on someone else to make it.

Private schools and providers face reporting duties

Private-school chiefs must report evidence of specified misconduct by workers or job applicants within 48 hours through the state portal. If a worker resigns before the investigation ends, chiefs must send the evidence collected; victims' names remain nonpublic. People making covered private-school reports or communications in good faith are protected from civil or criminal liability. Beginning in 2026–2027, the Comptroller must report covered education savings account provider cases within 48 hours of the reporting trigger. These triggers include misconduct evidence, departure after an allegation, or relevant criminal history; providers must supply needed information to participate.

School investigations gain powers and privacy rules

The education agency can investigate specified misconduct without receiving a report or complaint. The commissioner can compel relevant Texas-based witnesses and evidence, serve orders electronically, and generally require responses through the portal. Investigation and subpoena records remain confidential, limiting public access, but may be used in legal proceedings or disclosed through statutory exceptions. The agency must refer allegations containing suspected criminal evidence to law enforcement and record each referral. It must also refer allegations leading to registry placement if they have not already been referred.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsors

  • Paul Bettencourt

    Republican • Senate

  • Brad Buckley

    House

  • Brandon Creighton

    Republican • Senate

  • Pete Flores

    Republican • Senate

  • James Frank

    House

  • Jeff Leach

    House

  • Mayes Middleton

    Republican • Senate

  • Candy Noble

    House

  • Tan Parker

    Republican • Senate

  • Angela Paxton

    Republican • Senate

  • Royce West

    Democratic • Senate

  • Judith Zaffirini

    Democratic • Senate

Cosponsors

  • Brian Birdwell

    Republican • Senate

  • Donna Campbell

    Republican • Senate

  • Adam Hinojosa

    Republican • Senate

  • Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa

    Democratic • Senate

  • Phil King

    Republican • Senate

  • Lois Kolkhorst

    Republican • Senate

  • Kevin Sparks

    Republican • Senate

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 443 • No: 16

Senate vote • 5/30/2025

Record vote

Yes: 30 • No: 1

House vote • 5/28/2025

Record vote

Yes: 126 • No: 10

House vote • 5/27/2025

Record vote

Yes: 131 • No: 2

House vote • 5/27/2025

Record vote

Yes: 134 • No: 2

Senate vote • 5/8/2025

Record vote

Yes: 0 • No: 0

Senate vote • 5/8/2025

Record vote

Yes: 0 • No: 0

House vote • Unknown

Committee vote: Public Education

Yes: 11 • No: 1

Senate vote • Unknown

Committee vote: Education K-16

Yes: 11 • No: 0

Actions Timeline

  1. Effective immediately

    6/20/2025House

  2. Signed by the Governor

    6/20/2025House

  3. Sent to the Governor

    6/3/2025House

  4. Signed in the House

    6/2/2025House

  5. Signed in the Senate

    6/2/2025Senate

  6. Reported enrolled

    6/2/2025Senate

  7. Senate concurs in House amendment(s)-reported

    5/31/2025House

  8. Record vote

    5/30/2025Senate

  9. Senate concurs in House amendment(s)

    5/30/2025Senate

  10. Read

    5/30/2025Senate

  11. House amendment(s) laid before the Senate

    5/30/2025Senate

  12. House passage as amended reported

    5/28/2025Senate

  13. Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal

    5/28/2025House

  14. Record vote (RV#3841)

    5/28/2025House

  15. Passed

    5/28/2025House

  16. Read 3rd time

    5/28/2025House

  17. Additional sponsor(s) authorized

    5/28/2025House

  18. Rules suspended

    5/28/2025House

  19. Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal

    5/27/2025House

  20. Record vote (RV#3701)

    5/27/2025House

  21. Passed to 3rd reading as amended

    5/27/2025House

  22. Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal

    5/27/2025House

  23. Record vote (RV#3700)

    5/27/2025House

  24. Amended (1-Leach)

    5/27/2025House

  25. Read 2nd time

    5/27/2025House

Bill Text

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